T-Shirts and Pillows
by SassAndSagacity
Summary: "Here take Mommy's picture. Does it make you feel better?" She stopped crying for a minute before resuming the wailing but this time she hugged Annabeth's picture to her chest. "Okay then." He muttered. In which Percy is left alone with his daughter and she just won't stop crying. Family fluff! Oneshot


"Shh. It's fine. Daddy is here! See."  
More crying.

"Baby, please stop crying."

Charlie wailed kicking her legs, smacking him in the face in the process. Her little face was red with tears tracts on her cheeks from crying and she was clutching his shirt with one hand while waving the other indignantly as she sobbed miserably.

He shifted her in his arms to put a hand on her stomach and rub gentle circles on it in case, she had a stomach ache.

Another shrill cry and he knew he was wrong.

It had been two hours and she was still crying. Her cries were now verging on desperate with her tiny face all scrunched up and limbs flailing, sobbing like there was no tomorrow.

He had already fed her, changed her diapers, checked for a fever, given her a pacifier (which she had spit out the moment he gave it to her), given her a tummy massage, rocked her until his arms ached but she just wouldn't stop crying. He had even bathed her twice and she had just cried harder (which surprised him because usually her seven month old being glowed whenever it was bath time.)

And truthfully, he was near tears himself.

Annabeth had left for a conference she had to attend in California while he had volunteered to take care of their seven month old daughter all by himself. She had agreed obviously. He was really good with Charlotte, always managing to calm her down with some mindless babbling and cuddling.

But none of it worked today.

Charlie had always been a calm baby, crying only when he needed something. She had never behaved like this before.

Heck, she didn't even really cry when Annabeth was around. It was just a few whimpers until Annabeth was at her side and then she would go back to being the ultimate example of a happy baby.

He sat down, leaning against the wall with his daughter against her chest. She was hiccupping now and he felt more like a failure with every passing minute. He couldn't even calm down a seven month old. Was it him who had messed up enough to make his generally happy daughter cry for two hours straight?

He knew his presence and peace did not get along well. He wasn't exactly an overachiever or even a person who had excelled at something beyond his powers as a demigod but fatherhood had been one thing he had decided he would excel at.

And right now, holding Charlie in his arms, he wasn't sure whether he was even deserving of being a father or not.

He thought of calling Annabeth but it was three in the night in New York which meant it would be pretty late in California and he didn't want to worry her especially when she had a flight scheduled for five in the morning. But he couldn't help but wish she was here. She know what to do. Annabeth always had a plan.

Annabeth!

Of course, Annabeth was the answer. It was possible that Charlie was crying because she missed her. (He did too even if it had been only been thirty five hours since she had left).

He rushed over to the bookshelf where they kept the pictures and took out one of Annabeth from their wedding day from the frame, giving it to Charlie.

"Here take Mommy's picture. Does it make you feel better?" She stopped crying for a minute before resuming the wailing but this time she hugged Annabeth's picture to her chest.

"Okay then." He muttered

Percy sighed before bouncing Charlie up and down causing her to drop the picture which in turn caused her to cry harder. He picked up the picture and handed it over to the baby who gave him her equivalent of a thankful look and clutched the picture tightly, her crying now having turned to a lighter sobbing.

"It's alright. Mom will be here in no time, right?" He cooed but she blandly ignored him.

That was it, he decided. He was going to Iris message Annabeth. Maybe hearing her voice and seeing her in person would calm Charlie down.

He set the baby in her low base rocking chair, trying to ignore how her cries got louder immediately and the look of betrayal on her face as he made his way into the study to get a drachma.

He had just taken one out when he noticed that the crying had stopped. No sobs, nothing. You could hear a pin drop.

He all but rushed out to make sure his daughter was alright, his heart on his sleeve. Had she fallen? Did she cry herself to the point of passing out? Did some mon-

His train of thought was cut short when he stepped in the nursery to see her asleep with a smile on her face holding one of Annabeth's T-shirts, the one she had been wearing yesterday, to small frame. The picture was still in her hand.

He let out a small laugh. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

Going over to the shelf which contained all the baby products, he took out a wet wipe and leaned down to wipe his daughter's face clean. He held her in his arms, stirring her from sleep. But before she could even open her eyes, he had already covered her body with the shirt.

It was Annabeth's scent that calmed her down, he mused as Charlie gave a contended gurgle which sounded like the best sound in the whole world to him at the moment.

"Kept daddy up for two hours and all it takes is a t shirt to calm you down?" she giggled again as he proceeded to blow a raspberry on her tummy.

Placing her in the crib, she put the shirt next to her along with the picture and covered her with a blanket.

He saw the whimpering before he heard it as she opened her arms towards him, gesturing with her fists for him to pick her up.

"As you wish." He muttered cradling her in his arms, making his way towards the room he shared with Annabeth.

He set her down in the middle of the bed which looked even larger in comparison to her small body before placing pillows on one side of the bed to make sure that she didn't fall.

He let her clutch the t shirt and placed Annabeth's pillow beside her (and she instantly curled up towards it) before letting himself into the bed.

Charlie took the neckline of his own shirt in her hand and yawned. She looked like a perfect angel right now with her curly blonde hair and wide green eyes.

"Tata!" she babbled which he assumed was her way of saying goodnight.

"Goodnight to you too, Charlotte." He said before placing an arm on top of her, careful not to crush her and letting sleep take him over.

Annabeth entered their bedroom at eight in the morning, careful not to wake Percy up and mentally cooed at the sight that greeted her.

Their bed was a mess with pillows all over the place and in the centre a dishevelled Percy was cuddling their daughter who was holding what seemed to be one of her t-shirts in her hand.

She smiled and took off her shoes.

Clearing her side of the bed of the pillows that were lying there, she slid in the bed, next to Charlie and pressed a kiss on her forehead and then one on Percy's cheek.

She let a soft smile take over her features, she thought as she curled up next to _her_ family. The thing she had wanted for years and now had.

Everything else could wait.

 **Drop a review telling me how it was.**


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